If you read a few blogs yourself, then you know how easy it is to tune out the ads. This is called ad blindness. This is something that we all experience, and as a blogger, it is something you need to learn to overcome. There’s no perfect solution to this, but there are few things you can do to avoid ad blindness on your blog.

Here are some of the best tips to help you avoid ad blindness on your blog

Where to place your ads?

Above the fold is always the best option, but where above the fold? The best location is near your strongest content. On one of my blogs I get the best click throughs with a banner I have on top of each blog post. On another blog I have a small block of four 125 × 125 ads at the top of my right sidebar, just above the categories section. If you use Adsense ads or ads that are generated through keywords, you will have better results if you place them near the appropriate keywords in your blog or on the side panel closest to the content.

Rotating ads often

Most advertisers create multiple banners in different designs and sizes. Rotating ads often will make repeat visitors feel that there has been some change. If you use WordPress, there are plugins that automatically rotate ads for you, every time the page is refreshed.
Limit the number of your ads

Casting a wider net does not always get you more fish. In fact, when it comes to having too many ads on your blog, it is always necessary to make sure that they don’t make your site messy and unprofessional. Readers may not see the ads, but they will see right through your attempts to snare them. They come to your blog for information. Give it to them, and do not worry, when they are ready, they will find your ads.

Place the high interest items near the ads

These include category lists, popular articles list, posts, inspirational quotes, and so on. Attention has a radius – it’ll be focused on what is important and leak into the surrounding area. Never place your ads so close to another element that a reader might accidentally click on the ad when they intended to click on something else. The reader will feel cheated.

Less is more

The less you have on the page, more attention each item is going to draw. Your ads will stand out instead of fading into the background. More ads will mean that the reader’s attention will be spread thinly between them, possibly to an extent where the visitors cannot take the message of some of your ads.

It is better for you if they are going to focus narrowly on just one, rather than having only the partial registration of the message of several. In addition to experimenting with ads in various places, reducing the number of ads is always worthwhile.

The key is to experiment with your ad placement – not just for a day but for a week or so. Different places, different ads and different combinations will perform at different levels. Try using fewer ads in several prominent places. Try sandwiching advertisements between elements of great interest to readers.

Be creative

There is nothing that says you have to connect directly to the advertiser’s sales page. Many readers do not want to go directly from your blog to a scary hype filled sales page. Create your own landing page to serve as a pre-sell page and link to that first.

There is also nothing that says you have to use the advertiser’s banners. We assume that the owner knows what he is doing, but in many cases they do not pay as much attention to the design of their banners. Create your own eye-catching designs and get more attention.

And finally, there is nothing that says you have to use banner ads all over your blog. I get some of my best click-through rates using anchor text links in my content. Not a “click here for more information” link, but a contextual link in a sentence.

The key to preventing ad blindness is to pay attention to yourself. Monitor the CTR on a regular basis, and be prepared to do a lot to moving if required. Do not just assume that an ad does not work just because you do not get clicks. Especially if you’ve done the research and have chosen a good product.